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Literary Elements In The Things They Carried By Tim O Brien

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“The Things They Carried”, a story written by Tim O’Brien, is located within the small villages of Vietnam and is about O’Brien, who was drafted into the Vietnam War, alongside other soldiers of the Alpha Company, reacting and developing around the first friendly causality within the company, of whom was named Ted Lavender. The story continues on about how Vietnam was filled with immense boredom accompanied by a great awareness of the environment, allowing for the extreme imagination to rapidly overwhelm the company. With the story’s vast concept, the literary elements that are drawn in support for an accessible understanding include the overall theme(s) of the story, the characters described within the story, the writing style, and the diction …show more content…

Upon the death of Lavender and Lt. Cross putting the blame upon himself, he had decided to burn his distraction (which was told to be the reason for Lavender’s death-it could have been prevented) alongside disregarding his good luck pebble from Martha, a symbol O’Brien had used to depict classification for Cross. Thus, in this sequence, as Cross had “renewed” himself from distraction, it can be relatable to O’Brien as he represents Lt. Cross not with a pebble nor Martha, but rather a man who rehabilitated himself in response to the death of one of his men. Furthermore, throughout the story, O’Brien begins to categorize his fellow soldiers through the listing, indicating a weak relationship between everyone. However, as the story progresses after the death of Lavender, a conversing style of writing emerged (about Lavender’s death and how the soldiers were grateful to be alive), indicating emotional connection between O’Brien and the company amplified, such as when Kiowa noticed the Lieutenant being “…in some deep hurt [indicating]… The man cares.” Additionally, O’Brien, from there forth, begins to characterize the Alpha Company through their personal traits with phrases identical to, “For the most part they carried themselves with poise, a kind of dignity” or the general reactions and responses the soldiers produced before, during, and after a firefight including embarrassment and apprehensive sentiment to die and the jokingly conversing subsequent to the battle. This transition from illustrating characters through objects to personal traits and empathy may assume the narrator had increased his connection among his companions, sharing similar insight, undergoing equivalent events, and so forth. Accordingly,

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Shame and self-hatred surface when Lieutenant Cross realizes “…Ted Lavender [is] dead because he [loves] her [Martha] so much and [cannot] stop thinking about her” (326). Furthermore, the pebble that once symbolized his affection for Martha is replaced with a figurative “stone in his stomach” (332), representative of his guilt. In order to begin to remove his distracting infatuation with Martha, Cross takes the following action: “On the morning after Ted Lavender [dies], First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross [crouches] at the bottom of his foxhole and [burns] Martha’s letters. Then he [burns] the two photographs” (336). Cross’ burning of Martha’s letters and photographs is a physical representation of the transformation in his personality and priorities.

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